McDowell, John Herbert

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McDowell, John Herbert

McDowell, John Herbert , American composer; b. Washington, D.C., Dec. 21, 1926; d. Scarsdale, N.Y., Sept. 3, 1985. He studied at Colgate Univ. (B.A., 1948) and at Columbia Univ. with Luening, Beeson, and Goeb (M.A., 1957), then held a Guggenheim fellowship in 1962. He devoted his energies chiefly to music for the theater and dance.

Works

Good News from Heaven, cantata (1957); Four Sixes and a Nine for Orch. (1959); Accumulation for 35 Flutes, Strings, and Percussion (1964); 100-odd pieces for dance, among them Insects and Heroes (1961); From Sea to Shining Sea, an homage to Ives (1965); Dark Psalters (1968).

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire

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